Though most conifers retain their needles all year, baldcypresses shed their foliage in winter. The fallen needles decay, forming acids that dissolve the [limestone] further; thus these trees tend to enlarge their own ponds. Since the pond is deeper in the middle, and the accumulation of [peat] is greater there, the taller trees grow in the center of the head, with the smaller ones toward the edge. Hence the characteristic dome-shaped profile.
Usually when fire sweeps the glades, the baldcypresses, occupying low, wet spots, are not injured. But with extended drought, the water disappears and the [peat] may burn for months, killing all the baldcypresses.
The cypress heads sometimes serve as alligator holes, where the big reptiles and other aquatic animals are able to survive dry periods. As you drive along the park road, stop and examine these tree islands through your binoculars; they are favored haunts of many of the park’s larger wading birds. Look for herons, egrets, wood storks, and white ibis, which visit these swampy [habitats] to feed on the abundant aquatic life.
Bald eagles find the tops of the tallest cypresses advantageous perches from which to scan the [marsh]. And at night certain of the cypress heads are “buzzard roosts”—resting areas for gatherings of hundreds of turkey vultures.
Bayhead
Bayhead
ALLIGATOR FLAG COCOPLUM [SWAMP] HOLLY CABBAGE PALMETTO REDBAY SWEETBAY SAWGRASS WILLOW ORCHIDS AND [BROMELIADS]
Many of the tree islands in the fresh-water glades are of the type called bayhead. Growing in depressions in the [limestone] or from beds of [peat] built up on the bedrock, these plant [communities] contain a variety of trees, including [swamp] holly, redbay, sweetbay, wax myrtle, and cocoplum. Some of them, on the fringes of the brackish zone, are marked by clumps of graceful paurotis palms growing at their edges.
Like the hardwood [hammocks] in the pinelands, bayheads are prevented from taking over the entire glades ecosystem by the dry-season fires that sweep the region at irregular intervals. The fires do not always affect the bayheads. A moat, formed by the dissolving action of acids from decaying plant materials on the [limestone], may surround the [tree island], providing some protection from fire. Wildlife concentrates in these moats during the dry season. Birds congregate here to harvest the fish, snails, and other aquatic life—and occasionally themselves fall prey to lurking alligators.